Deadwood : Complete HBO Season 3 [2006] (DVD)

Where's disc 5? (review contains *spoilers*) Similar to the now legendary Spinal Tap volume control, I wished Amazon's rating system allowed me to go up to six to rate Deadwood, series 1 and 2. Within the constraints of 5 stars however, I have to rate series three as a lowly 4. Doesn't seem fair in the scheme of things because Deadwood stands so far above all other TV shows but there it is. Series 3 (not 'season 3'...pet peeve of mine) sacrifices too many of the great things which made the first two series so good. Mr Wu is out of town, Cy Tolliver is confined to the Bella Union, Doc Cochrane is too ill to make his rounds, Farnum is out of the loop. New characters are brought in but go nowhere compared to series one and two; the Earp brothers, Aunt Lou and especially the seemingly pointless troupe of travelling actors are merely distracting interludes. There's even some weak acting in the form of the hotel keeper Shaughnessy (played by the same Dan Hildebrand who was so good as Tim Driscoll in series 1). Eleven episodes are lavished at the expense of other sub plots and character development on building George Hearst into an almost unbelievably reprehensible megalomaniac with no redeeming traits, getting the viewer along with all of the cast to detest him, and want him dead. But then does not pay off. The sheer scale of the Hearst character completely skewes the previous plots and relationships in the camp: local politics (small 'p') and rivalries which held so much dramatic value in the first two series are rendered irrelevant in the new scheme of things. Hearst becomes the reference point for everything. This is done brilliantly of course - the great direction and writing constantly ratchets up the suspense and threatening atmosphere through eleven episodes (relieved briefly by the adrenaline pumping fight between Dority and Turner) until it is utterly stifling. But then the hoped-for denouement is not delivered. With Seth and Al's crew pumped up, Hawkeye's men in the camp, Mr Wu's celestial army assembled and armed and all arrayed against the combined might of Hearst's muscle the series just fizzles out meekly. There's no blood bath, no showdown with the Pinkertons, there's no revenge or popular justice. Swearengen, Bullock and Alma Garret simply give in, the fledgeling and unlikely community of Deadwood cannot close ranks and overcome. Hearst wins and rides off into the sunset. I'm sure I missed the point - Milch is way smarter than me and if I was disappointed by the way Deadwood ended then it's almost certainly because I didn't 'get it' on first viewing and need to watch it a few more times. Nevertheless I felt decidedly underwhelmed by the way the series closed and honestly thought there must be some mistake...was there a fifth disc somewhere in the box set with extras plus the final, perhaps cliched but satisfying climax? Almost without exception the dialogue, casting, characterisation, sets, attention to detail and acting are all of the most sublime quality - you take that as read with Deadwood - but I would just have liked to see Hearst get what was coming to him...

Stunning Continues the high standards set in Series 1 & 2. Dramatic but unhurried, with both old and new characters contributing. An entertaining show that also serves as a thought-provoking history of the American west.

Might be unpopular but I can see why it got binned Deadwood series 1-2 were excellent. The level of profnaity was, frankly, astonishing, but there was also a music to the language which made me feel that the writers were really working hard. Ian McShane was towering as the strangely moral, violent killer and saloon owner Al Swearengen while Timothy Olyphant brought a superb barely suppressed psychopathic rage to his supposedly 'good' character, Sheriff Seth Bullock. By series three, I got the impression that the writers were running out of ideas. Most of the series is taken up with the battle between the town's folk and the megalomaniac gold baron George Hearst, played by Gerald McRaney from 'Jericho', who has to boast one the richest voices this side of Shelby Foote. So far so good, but nothing much happens. By the end of it, you are willing them to actually 'do' something - start shooting at each other or something. Hearst's mix of courtly old world manners and brutal violence - cutting off Lovejoy's finger - make him interesting but beggars the question why, in this fundamentally lawless town, someone doesn't shoot him. The romance between Olyphant and the widow Garret - a brilliant portrayal by Molly Parker - fizzles out and we don't even get much of how hard it must be the saintly schoolteacher Mrs Bullock. This would be an interesting relationship, but it is left to wither. Far more dull is the arrival of Brian Cox and his travelling players, who, to my mind, serve no purpose at all. Another curio of a character? So what. We've got enough. That screen time is dedicated to them for me shows a lack of tight script editing. Last and least I mention the 'relationship' between Calamity Jane and Joanie Stubbs, the lesbian would-be brothel keeper. Not only is this wildly ahistorical, I just didn't believe it at all. Not for one second. By the end, characters are being killed for little discernible purpose. Also, while one knows that these characters are supposed to be 'realistic' and, therefore, flawed, I was quite appalled when Sheriff Bullock stood complicit in the murder of an innocent girl to allow a more favoured character - the prostitute Trixie - to escape with her life after a failed attempt to kill Hearst. Timothy Olyphant has taken that intensity he honed on the side of right in Deadwood to use in a couple of 'by the numbers' villains in Die Hard 4.0 and the truly awful Hitman. I can only hope his career returns on track, because he's just another cartoon when he's in 'bad guy' mode and not half as fun as others. Deadwood - fine show, but ultimately collapsed under its own weight.

Unsurpassed There can be no doubt, as so many have said, that Deadwood stands head and shoulders above most TV dramas. That it has been denied the opportunity to develop its characters and themes properly must rank as one of the low moments in modern television history. Shame on HBO. Can someone please explain to me why the fifth disc in this series has been listed for months in my Amazon Rental List as 'Very Long Wait' -- which, by past experience, I take to me 'never to be made available'?

The greatest TV drama ever made Shakespearian in inspiration, technique, and scope, the impact Deadwood has a modern audience can only be compared to the impact one of Shakespeare's more bloodthirsty plays - say King Lear - must have had on its audience. Deadwood creates a unique feeling of empathy, drawing viewers deep into its world of brutal violence, unpredictable suffering, and redemptive friendship, loyalty, and courage. Oh - and the 3rd season is arguably the best of all.